A southwest - northeast split this weekend with the brightest, coldest weather in the northeast. The dull milder conditions further SW will win out next week though.
At this time of year and in general terms there are usually two types of weather on the menu. It can either be dull, misty and miserable, or brighter and more cheerful, but colder. I know what option I prefer if I could pick and choose, as these two climatic types battle for supremacy over this weekend. It looks like the milder, duller option to the South and West will win by the start of the working week, but for the meantime we have a North East/South West split across the country.
After a fine, but cold start over East Anglia and the South East, there'll be a lot of cloud today across Wales, the Midlands and the South with some rain, although much of it will be light and patchy. This has already reached South Wales, the South West and the West Country, but across the North Midlands and Norfolk, it may stay brighter here with just a few showers before skies clear towards dusk. Further North after a touch of frost in some rural areas, there'll be sunny spells. Some showers are moving South across northern England though and a few over Derry and Antrim, but these will fade to leave a fine afternoon. Scotland also has scattered showers heaviest and most frequent in the North and East. Here they'll persist through the day some heavy and wintry giving hill snow, but over the remainder of Scotland, it'll be finer but rather cold with sunny spells.
A West to North West wind will be fresh and blustery across the North and East Scotland, but over Wales, the Midlands and the South, winds will be lighter and more variable in direction. It'll be milder in the South, with parts of Devon and Cornwall reaching 12 or 13C, but 8 to 11C will be a more general top temperature. In the North, though temperatures will get no higher 6 or 7C.
Once the patchy rain has cleared from the South East, most parts will end up with a fine but cold night. This coupled with light winds will lead to a widespread slight frost as temperatures generally fall to between -3 and +2C. The South West, West Wales and perhaps Tyrone and Fermanagh will keep more cloud that'll give patchy light rain or drizzle, but it'll be milder here with temperatures falling no lower than 5 to 9C. Across the North and East of Scotland, Norfolk and along the East coast, further scattered showers seem likely for a while giving hill snow in a raw North Westerly wind.
Sunday sees a South West/North East split over the country, with much of Scotland, England and East Wales starting fine but cold with some sunshine. Across Northern Ireland, the South West and West Wales, there'll be more cloud with patchy drizzle and mostly light rain. This'll slowly work its way North and East through the day turning the sunshine elsewhere increasingly milky, with all but probably the North and East of Scotland more cloudy by nightfall.
There'll be a raw North West wind towards the East coast at first. Otherwise, winds will be light, becoming South or South Easterly over Northern Ireland and in the West later. Much of the country will remain rather cold with temperatures getting no higher than 5 to 7C, but across the South West and eventually over Northern Ireland, a milder 9 to 12C is more likely.
Central and northern Scotland will be cold after dark, where rain could be preceded by snow particularly on hills. Elsewhere though a slow rise in temperature is expected, in an increasingly misty night with hill fog in the South and West. There'll be rain at times, with Northern Ireland, Wales and the West seeing heavier bursts. Light winds in the East at first will freshen a little from the South bringing milder conditions to most parts, with temperatures except across northern Scotland mostly in the range 6 to 10C by morning.
